DE-REK JE-TER!

Today is a bit of a notes article; no real overarching thing just a bunch of short thoughts on what has been a pleasantly relaxing day.  I'm sure I'll find something to rage about though.

I hit a bit of a milestone today. I know my readership is worldwide, but I'm assuming you all know about Metro cards and the price of a subway ride.  For those of you who don't a ride on the subway costs $2.25 (little known fact, apparently that is also the price for an apartment in the subway station, they're roomy enough but quite drafty) and when you buy a $20 Metro card you get a 15% bonus of $2.50 adding up to a total of $22.50.  I'm sure all of you're actuaries, but that works out to 10 rides or 2 rides every business day leaving you with a .25 cent surplus at the end of the workweek. This means that instead of buying a new card every week I'm forced to refill my old one in order not to give up that .25 cents.  The following week that surplus grows to .50 cents and .75 the week after and so on and so on. Long story short after 11 weeks of refilling my metro card I finally have enough to use it once more and let it hit $0.00. 

I lost it :-(.

Yankee Parade in Downtown Manhattan today - say what you will but I find it heartwarming to see how the police will excuse public drunkenness and illegal exposure if you're smart enough to be a Yankee fan. 

"Do you like milk?" - I was going through the tags on the blog the other day and I discovered that Starbucks has merited more rants than anything else.  I was a bit surprised, personally I'd have put my money on the Portuguese (what's with that extra 'u'!?).  Still, facts are facts, so I apologize for returning to the scene of the crime yet again.  I was in Starbucks with a co-worker and I noticed they had a drink called an Eggnog latte.  being curious by nature I asked if it was any good.  The barista's response, however, assured me that while Starbuck's will continue to thrive, she will probably not be attending Wharton's School of Business anytime soon.  I think it's safe to say when you're asking someone to pay $4 for a non-alcoholic beverage, you need a hook, an exotic quality that makes it seem like something you can't get anywhere else (kind of how massage parlors have "exotic" Asian women even though there are far more Asians than Caucasians in the world).  So, when I ask the barista if the eggnog latte is good, I don't think "yeah, I mean do you like sweet milk?" is the response corporate had in mind.  The fact that my co-worker ordered it anyway, well... I didn't say either of us was going to Wharton's either.